Every salesperson has blind spots and no sales manager has enough time to coach their salespeople before each sales call like they would like to. Further, no salesperson says "boss, thanks for all of the reports you offer me that I am supposed to review, decipher, and determine what to discuss with my customer." The reality is your sales team cannot perform they way you'd like … [Read more...] about Meridian360 – 5 Tools in 1 to Drive Sales Intelligence
Myths of Selling to a Surplus House
Myths of selling to a surplus house All of them keep the profitable check on someone else's desk instead of yours. Every distributor and industrial plant is sitting on a bloated storeroom or warehouse full of parts, most have already talked themselves out of selling it. Usually for years. The reasons sound reasonable, in your head anyways. That's exactly what … [Read more...] about Myths of Selling to a Surplus House
Q3 Pulse of Industrial Supply Survey Open
The industrial market continues to be one the economic highlights and that, coupled with data centers, is helping to drive the industrial distribution segment. While many may wonder how data center construction benefits the industrial distribution industry, there are three elements: Fastenal reported a strong August. They were up 16.6% (15.5% in the US) with their OEM … [Read more...] about Q3 Pulse of Industrial Supply Survey Open
From Technology Expense to Business Advantage
Did you ever get the feeling that costs rise but the value proposition doesn’t change. Or you sense that you’re over spending? Or perhaps you know that someone hasn’t had the time to review “the pennies and nickels” that, when accumulated, become dollars. We’ve all heard about subscription costs that run amuck because no one remembers them. Or have heard of the stories of … [Read more...] about From Technology Expense to Business Advantage
NetPlus Q3 Outlook: Focusing on Fundamentals
NetPlus Alliance distributors reported another quarter of growth after the close of the second quarter. According to its Q3 Outlook report, "members remain focused on sales fundamentals while many upgrade their systems and processes." The Industry Outlook, a quarterly report based on a survey of NetPlus members, tracks business results and trends in the industrial and … [Read more...] about NetPlus Q3 Outlook: Focusing on Fundamentals
3M Shares 1st Half Insights
Recently I received some information that 3M shared regarding first half insights: The key takeaways are not so much the market, or sales, performance, as that is company-specific and/or projections from Cleveland Research, and the information is as of June. The key is considering market trends. Key "strong" markets are: Further, anything tied to data centers ... … [Read more...] about 3M Shares 1st Half Insights
The Parts Nobody Wants to Hold
The Parts Nobody Wants to Hold — and Why You Need Someone Who Will Surplus houses exist because the industrial supply chain produces inventory nobody can afford to keep — and everybody eventually needs. Every Shelf Charges Rent Holding inventory in any industry costs 20–30% of its value, annualized. Capital, storage, insurance, shrinkage, labor — the meter runs whether … [Read more...] about The Parts Nobody Wants to Hold
Why Routine Decisions Keep Finding the President
President's Need to Operationalize Trust You built a good company. That is not the problem. The problem is what a good company does to the person who runs it. Somewhere between your first few million and your current size, you stopped doing everything yourself and built a real organization. You hired people better at sales than you. You built a purchasing function that … [Read more...] about Why Routine Decisions Keep Finding the President
Fastener Distributor Growth and Exit Opportunities
Are you a fastener distributor, or a distributor with fasteners as a significant percentage of your business and Why private equity may be interested Every distributor knows that private equity has been investing into the industrial space and into distributors. PE firms have funds to invest in companies, and people, that aspire to lead platforms and/or are seeking to … [Read more...] about Fastener Distributor Growth and Exit Opportunities
2026 Q2 Pulse of Industrial Supply … Organically Flat , Pricing Drives Revenue
Each quarter, Industrial Supply Trends, in conjunction with William Blair, conducts a quarterly Pulse of Industrial Supply survey. We gain input from a wide array of distributors and manufacturers so that we can correlate performance and then share with you the results. Survey respondents received a copy of the results in early July. Industrial Supply Channel … a … [Read more...] about 2026 Q2 Pulse of Industrial Supply … Organically Flat , Pricing Drives Revenue
